The Maryland Jockey Club and Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association (MTHA)
have agreed to the live racing dates and stakes schedule for the balance of
2009, including the return of the Frank J. De Francis Dash (G1) after a
one-year hiatus.
After a 10-week break, live racing will return to Maryland on August 1 at Laurel Park. The 11-day summer stand will conclude August
23, with live racing taking place on Friday (3:35 p.m. [EDT] post time), Saturday
and Sunday for three consecutive weeks following opening weekend. The mini-meet
will include Maryland-bred stakes races on August 1 (Humphrey Finney), August 15
(Mister Diz) and August 22 (Pearl Necklace).
“Racing in August was significant to the horsemen and bringing back the De
Francis Dash to headline the fall meet was just as important to us,” said Tom
Chuckas, Maryland Jockey Club president and chief operating officer. “We are
hopeful the Friday, Saturday, Sunday format in August, coupled with our
first-class turf course, will breathe life into the mini-meet.”
Following the seven-day Timonium state fair meet (August 28-30, September
4-7), the 2009 fall stand will begin September 12 at Laurel Park.
The 14-week fall meeting will feature live racing on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
and Saturday afternoons (with Columbus holiday exception) through December 19.
The 57-day stand is topped by the 24th annual Maryland Million on September
26, a 12-race stakes program for Maryland sired horses, and the return of
Laurel’s marquee race, the $300,000 De Francis Dash, which was not carded in
2008 due to a purse account shortfall, on October 24.
The De Francis Dash is one of just three Grade 1 races contested in Maryland,
along with the Preakness S., the middle jewel of racing’s Triple Crown, and
the historic Pimlico Special. Introduced in 1990, the De Francis Dash is one of
the elite six-furlong sprints in the country with four of the 18
winners — Housebuster (1991), Cherokee Run (1994), Smoke Glacken (1997) and Thor’s
Echo (2006) — earning Eclipse Award honors for champion sprinter.
The dates and stakes schedule for the summer and fall meetings were approved
by the Maryland Racing Commission and will be officially ratified at the next
meeting on July 21 according to Mike Hopkins, executive director of the
commission.